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How Portland got its Broadway

Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, even Gary, Ind. Most of them are named after the most famous Broadway in New York City. Portland isn’t an exception to this naming convention, but what you might consider the most Broadway-ish part of the city wasn’t the original Broadway.

The original Broadway is what is now called Northeast Broadway on the east side. It was platted in the 1850s, when “Broadway” was apparently a very popular name for streets.

Then in 1913, the Broadway Bridge was built and named. That’s when Seventh Street on the west side was renamed Broadway, and entertainment venues were later built there, like what is now the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, first constructed in 1928. This is all according to Eugene E. Snyder’s book “Portland Names and Neighboorhoods: Their Historic Origins.”

So what does “Broadway” mean? The name itself derives from the Broadway in New York City, which began as a Native American trail and was later named Breede weg by the Dutch because of its width; the literal translation is “broad way.”

Eastsiders were apparently so proud of their Broadway in 1913 that when plans called for changing the street name to “East Broadway,” they formed the North East Side Improvement Association and assailed City Hall. They won, and the westside street was split into North and South Broadway, while the eastside street remained simply Broadway. In 1933, though, Portland streets were renumbered and standardized, and the streets were renamed to Northwest, Southwest and Northeast Broadway.

The issue also came up during the city’s César E. Chávez Boulevard renaming project. The name of the Latino activist eventually went to part of Northeast 39th Avenue, but Grand Avenue and Northeast Broadway were also considered. Interestingly, in the proposals to rename Broadway, some people were apparently confused about when Broadway was named. According to the memorandum on public testimony:

Broadway is significant for its history as the theatre and entertainment center for the city and it served as an early connection to growing neighborhoods on the East side. It’s very naming in 1913 and its development since, has been reflective of Portland social, cultural and architectural history.

Funny, because the Broadway that was supposed to be renamed was on the east side and was platted in the 1850s, not in 1913. The fact that the “Broadway” cachet didn’t catch on until 1913, and then only on west side, should have ruined that argument.

So there you have it. It’s conventional knowledge that Portland originally got the conventional Broadway name from its conventional popularity in the 1800s.

But lest you think that all Broadways are named after some East Coast street, know this: the Broadway Road in the Arizona Valley was named after a sheriff there in the 1890s, Noah Broadway.